In this Tax Alert we will briefly highlight two topical Dutch tax matters very relevant to internationally active companies: the current status of the legislative proposal regarding Dutch dividend withholding tax rules for holding cooperatives and BVs/NVs and the announcement of the Dutch Ministry of Finance that the Dutch fiscal...

Work on an EU “blacklist” of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions is proceeding as planned, according to Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis. Dombrovskis made the comments following a meeting of EU finance ministers, at which the proposal was discussed. Dombrovskis said that finance ministers are calling for an agreement on the list to be...

The EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council has adopted a Directive to create a new system to resolve double taxation disputes between EU Member States. This measure will afford taxpayers a transparent process with clear deadlines applicable to tax authorities involved to resolve cross-border double tax disputes within the EU....

The Chartered Institute of Taxation, the UK tax professionals representative body, has urged lawmakers globally to pause for thought on the direction being taken on the taxation of the digital economy. It is urging that any measures to improve the tax rules covering the digital economy must be developed and...

Inquiry to centre on George Osborne’s 2013 rule change that allows resident multinationals to shift income offshore The EU is to launch an investigation into a British government scheme that may help multinational firms pay less tax, the Guardian has learned. Margrethe Vestager, the EU competition commissioner, will announce on...

The European Parliament’s PANA Committee has approved draft recommendations calling for increased scrutiny and regulation of emerging technologies, including virtual currencies and FinTech. The committee also approved a report delving into the findings of an 18-month probe into breaches of EU law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and...

EU leaders have not yet made a clear choice about how to make sure digital companies pay their fair share of taxes. At an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday (19 October), they adopted a text that balances the wishes of two groups of countries – and can be interpreted...

BRATISLAVA, Oct.18 (Xinhua) — International information exchange system could help fight tax evasion, said President of Slovak Financial Administration Frantisek Imrecze at a press conference here on Wednesday. According to Imrecze, the information exchange system has been available to the Slovak Financial Administration since Sept. 30, the Slovak tax office...

ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland said on Wednesday it would start sharing information on the activities of multinationals in its territory with other countries in 2020, joining an international push to fight tax evasion. The new measures will force about 200 large companies in the low-tax haven to prepare country-by-country reports...

Exemptions make the mandatory disclosure regime a joke, says MEP Matt Carthy The Revenue Commissioners have received just 11 reports of potentially abusive tax-avoidance schemes since Ireland made it mandatory in early 2011 for transactions giving “aggressive” tax advantages to be disclosed to authorities. The disclosure by Minister for Finance...

Denmark’s top lender, Danske Bank, played an “organised” role in a Russian money-laundering scam, French prosecutors have said. The Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris said the bank’s branch in Estonia helped to move €15 million of “money from organised fraud and tax evasion” in Russia into France and other...

The Irish Government has published an updated version of its International Tax Strategy, which provides an overview of the steps taken to meet international standards and sets out the Government’s position on global reform efforts. In his foreword to the Tax Strategy paper, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said: “In Ireland...

European Union finance ministers gave formal approval to legislation designed to dramatically reduce the 900-plus unresolved company cross-border double taxation disputes. The Oct. 10 approval for the EU Double Taxation Dispute Resolution Directivecomes amid skepticism from tax professionals that it has the resources to be effective. It includes mandatory binding...

Maltese MEP and former Prime Minister Alfred Sant said that small EU countries and islands use tax competition tools in order to compensate for major competitive disadvantages due to their limited endowments and distance from major markets. Along with Malta, even Ireland and Cyprus have notably expressed their great concerns...

The Irish government is inviting businesses and practitioners to provide feedback on its plans to update its international tax strategy, including how Ireland should incorporate the OECD’s transfer pricing guidelines into national law and implement the European Union’s anti-tax avoidance rules. The consultation, which runs until the end of January...

European Union plans for a new taxation system for digital companies, such as Skype and Amazon, both of which have European headquarters in Luxembourg, were discussed on Tuesday by EU finance ministers. A report from the European Commission in September said the effective average tax rate for a traditional international...

Cyprus should consider reinstating the immovably property tax to boost revenues, the International Monetary Fund has said. Taxpayers in Cyprus previously had to pay an annual tax linked to the total value of all immovable property owned. The tax was substantially reduced in 2016 and withdrawn completely this year. The...

Ireland is set to taste cold justice at the hands of the EU which has taken it to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for failing to collect a year-old tax bill of a whopping 13 billion euros from American tech giant Apple. To be sure, the EU competition commission...

BRUSSELS — European competition regulators on Wednesday mounted a push against tax avoidance by Silicon Valley giants, announcing plans to take Ireland to court for failing to collect back taxes from Apple and ordering Luxembourg to claim unpaid taxes from Amazon. The effort, which comes as the European Union considers...

LONDON (Reuters) – Facebook (FB.O) reported profits in Britain in 2016 of 58.4 million pounds ($77 million) after the introduction of anti-profit shifting measures but a modest rise in its tax bill shows the challenge Europe faces in working out how to tax technology giants. Facebook said in filings with...

The EU is deeply divided over how to increase the tax take from tech giants such as Google, Apple and Amazon, who have recently come under fire for being perceived as not paying their fair share of taxes A controversial set of reforms spearheaded by French president Emmanuel Macron propose...

(CNS Business): Premier Alden McLaughlin and Financial Services Minister Tara Rivers lobbied EU officials last week in an effort to keep the Cayman Islands off the latest Brussels list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions. During the visit to the European capital, the premier said, the delegation found that EU decision makers...

EU nations led by France and Italy reinforced the need for an “equalization tax” or turnover tax on large internet companies such as Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., and suggested they would use special legislative procedures to impose one in the event all 28 EU-member countries don’t back the levy....

The European Commission is preparing a new directive on the cross-border transfer of company headquarters, a move that could have far-reaching implications for other areas of corporate governance, including tax planning and cross-border mergers, EURACTIV has learned. With Brexit on the horizon, UK companies are busy weighing their options for...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union’s plans to increase taxes on digital firms risks undermining the bloc’s growth and stifle global efforts to find common solutions, U.S. companies operating in the EU said on Tuesday. Critics say online firms such as Google (GOOGL.O) or Facebook (FB.O) pay too little tax...

Markus J Beyrer, Director General of Business Europe, has expressed concerns about the proposed introduction of a European Union turnover tax on digital businesses. On September 21, the European Commission launched a new agenda to ensure that the digital economy is taxed “in a fair and growth-friendly way.” This could...

Bermuda has become the first overseas territory to be awarded whitelist status by France. David Burt, the Premier, told MPs the development underlined the Ministry of Finance’s efforts to support international co-operation on tax matters and financial transparency. He added that he will attend key meetings in Paris and Brussels...

Appropriate Use of Country-by-Country Reports The OECD has now published Guidance (available here) on the appropriate use of Country-by-Country Reports (‘CbCRs’) by national tax authorities. This is in response to some valid MNE concerns that tax authorities may misuse CbCRs. “Appropriate use” is clarified as being for (i) high-level transfer...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission said the EU should proceed with an overhaul of taxes on digital firms even if the rest of the rich world did not follow suit, a draft report said. The document is part of an EU push to tap more revenues from online multinationals...

Changes in international tax laws spurred by the OECD’s BEPS project pose challenges for finance chiefs, but also offer some opportunities. The OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project, with an overall goal of reducing global loss of tax revenues due to double non-taxation, has created the need for...

Finance ministers discuss new tax plans in Tallinn, Estonia France’s Le Maire says EU citizens ‘outraged’ by situation European Union finance ministers are developing a new way to tax digital companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc. to raise money from an industry that they say provides less than...

Operations in the European Union haven’t been easy going for tech companies for quite a long time. While many European countries earlier called for strict privacy regulations and large fines on tech companies for violating them, they have now called for increased taxation for these companies for their operations in...

GERMANY has accused Italy, France and Spain accusing of allowing huge companies to avoid paying billions in tax and draining EU funds in the process. Berlin officials have claimed the three EU member states have been deliberately unhelpful in the battle to clampdown on tax-dodging by large companies. In an...

The EU 28 financial ministers are set to discuss taxation of multinational digital platforms in Tallin on September 15-16, Reuters reports. Companies such as Amazon and Google have designed tax plans that reduce their tax liability in countries they operate. The proposal put forward by the Estonian Presidency proposes to...

BRUSSELS — European Union finance ministers are set to discuss rule changes next week aimed at increasing taxes on digital multinationals such as Google and Amazon, an EU document seen by Reuters said. Online giants are facing increasing pressure in Europe over the low tax they pay, but states have...

The government is looking to implement EU Directives on tax avoidance, and is set to receive more financial information from multinational groups active in Romania. Tax experts suggest that large corporations might reassess their business models in order to meet the demands of the fiscal authorities in Romania and across...

Ireland has published guidelines for requesting Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) assistance. The guidelines, issued in early August, set out the legal basis for requesting MAP assistance as well as: the process through which taxpayers can request assistance from Ireland’s Competent Authority (the Revenue) the possible outcomes resulting from a request...

The Irish Government is said to be nearing a deal with Apple that would protect the state from any losses that could arise while it holds in escrow the “state aid” money the EU has ordered the tech giant to pay back. Bloomberg reported that an individual familiar with the...

As part of the Irish Budgetary process, officials from the Finance Department have published a paper on the implications of Brexit for Ireland’s tax system. The paper was prepared for consideration by the Tax Strategy Group (TSG), an interdepartmental committee chaired by the Finance Department. The papers produced by the...

The UK will not engage in aggressive tax competition to attract business post-Brexit, Chancellor Philip Hammond has said. He added that the country’s economy will remain aligned with the European model after leaving the EU. “It is often said that London would consider launching into unfair competition in terms of...

“Disproportionate” value disappears from economic system compared to GDP Malta ranks first among a number of EU countries in a list of what a new study calls 24 “sink offshore financial centres”, which it says are typically characterised as tax havens. The study, published this week in the academic journal...

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has released guidance on a change to value-added tax rules to tax services used outside the EU by UK consumers. The changes, which were introduced in the Spring Budget 2017, will affect suppliers of mobile telecommunication services, private consumers, and non-business users who consume telecommunication...

The European Commission launched legal proceedings against Portugal, Bulgaria, and Cyprus for not adopting, in their national laws, European Union legislation requiring all EU countries to exchange tax rulings granted to multilateral companies. The legislation was adopted in the wake of the 2014 LuxLeaks scandal that revealed more than 100...

Bulgaria is among European Union countries that the European Commission has sent a reasoned opinion because of its failure to communicate the transposition of new measures on the automatic exchange of tax rulings between EU tax authorities. The step was announced by the European Commission on July 13, among its...

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble defended his opposition to pending European Union legislation that would force large multinational companies to publicly disclose, on a country-by-country basis, their taxes paid and profits. Schauble, who testified before the EU Parliament’s Panama Papers investigative committee July 11, said public reporting of companies’ tax...

France wants Brussels to take a tougher stance on American multinationals working inside the European Union (EU) and force them to pay an appropriate amount of tax. “I can tell you that the times we live in are not for the weak,” French Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire said in...

The European Union has published a letter to EU heads of state, laying down a direct challenge to the Trump administration, on the issues of tax avoidance ahead of the G20 summit this weekend. The joint letter, sent by European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council president Donald Tusk...

EU Tax Commissioner Pierre Moscovici has described the proposed common consolidated corporation tax base as a “decisive tool against corporate tax avoidance.” Moscovici made the comment during a speech on tax fairness. He said the CCCTB will provide companies with a single rulebook for calculating their taxable profit throughout the...

The Greek parliament has adopted a new law transposing an amendment to the European Union administrative cooperation directive to provide for the exchange of advanced tax rulings between member states. The new law, passed by parliament earlier this month, adopts EU Directive 2015/2376/EU of December 8, 2015, which amends Directive...

The OECD’s body for assessing compliance with international tax transparency standards plans to tell an upcoming summit in Hamburg, Germany, that Trinidad and Tobago is the world’s only tax haven. Group of 20 country leaders meeting last year in China asked that body, the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange...